One of the most difficult and dangerous operations on a battlefield is clearing paths through mine fields, especially when done under enemy fire. Hence, mines are typically cleared by a crew in a tank fitted with devices to remove or explode mines ahead of the tank as it crosses a mined area. It is critical to plainly mark lanes cleared by tanks so that soldiers or other vehicles can accurately follow them. The US Army has a tank-mounted dispenser that deploys lane markers along a cleared path automatically, so that personnel need not be exposed to enemy fire or nearby mine explosions to mark cleared lanes. The dispenser uses lane markers that have a flat, relatively compact shape when in the dispenser. Present lane markers that fit into the dispenser have a lighted element that is raised less than one foot from the ground upon marker deployment. It is desired to have an automatically deployable marker wherein the lighted element is higher off the ground, so that the lane marker is more visible.
My invention is an improved automatically deployable lane marker that addresses the above concern. The marker has an illuminator connected by a spring to a generally planar base, the illuminator having a prone pre-deployment position where the illuminator lies along or in the general plane of the base. The illuminator has a post-deployment position where the spring has swung the illuminator upright and has raised the illuminator about three feet from the base. The spring has coils compressed into a planar array atop the base before deployment, the coils expandable to raise the illuminator. A leg of the spring connects the coils to the illuminator and biases the illuminator from the prone to the upright position. The spring has a keeper retaining the coils in compression against the base before deployment. Attached to the keeper is an end section that passes through a hole in the base and holds the keeper to the base.
The lane marker has a destructible bracket holding the illuminator in its prone position against the bias of the spring's leg, and a cantilever extends from the bracket along the illuminator. Just before the marker deploys, an impactor moves the cantilever while crushing an ampule of light activator agent in the illuminator. The cantilever breaks the bracket, and then the spring swings the illuminator upright and raises the illuminator from the base.